A Bet Worth Taking: A Collaboration Two Shot by Shellz & GranthamGal
by Settees-under-siege
Summary: This is the final piece in my one shot series for 3.8 but it is different in that it is in two parts. The first part is written by myself and the second is by GranthamGal. Please let us know what you think of the story and the collaboration idea too! Robert is feeling downcast after his wife and children all opposed him once again but Cora has other idea's to get him on side.
1. Chapter 1

A heavy silence imposed on the remaining inhabitants of the library as Robert rounded the corner towards the front door and out of side. It was deafening and stifling. Matthew and Tom exchanged an awkward glance. Mary sat on the sofa blankly while Cora remained standing at her side examining her shoes. Yes, the silence was heavy and everyone was feeling most uncomfortable.

Tom's gaze settled on his mother-in-law. He was feeling most perplexed. Had he really misinterpreted that badly? Cora had agreed with their plan and that she would play a part in it and when she had leapt to her husbands' defense he had thought that the bid to get Robert on side would fail. But she had then proceeded to reason with him and unlike his hothead brother-in-law, she had been gentle and yet somehow, had still failed. How they would bring Robert around now he just didn't know as Cora had been his trump card. Cora caught him staring at her so forlornly and offered a small smile.

"Don't worry Tom, Robert will come around, you'll see," she said softly.

"I really thought he would listen to you," Tom replied as he shook his head slightly. "You did the best job out of all of us explaining that I just can't believe we aren't all shaking hands and outlining the details of the future right now." He let out a tired sigh.

"Robert is just being silly Tom. I want him involved with this and he was the one who said we would be joint masters. I think he is just having difficulty adjusting to it, that's all. As such, he isn't seeing everything with a clear head," Matthew finished.

"That may be so Matthew but that is not what concerns me," Cora cut in sharply, taking everyone aback.

"But Mama, we need to get this plan up and running. The money won't be there forever. We can't just keep waiting for Papa like this because it just isn't viable." Mary rose from her perch and faced her mother. "I wish Papa saw all this differently but he doesn't. He passed his stubborn streak on to me-"

"-Don't I know it," Cora muttered.

"- so I doubt there is anything to be done now if he won't do it himself. Let's drop it and just get on with the plan," Mary concluded.

"No." Cora's voice was sure and she drew herself up to her full height, a commanding Countess, mother and mother-in-law. "None of you will do any such thing unless I say so at this point. I know Robert and I know I can still bring him around."

"But Mama-" Mary began to protest.

"I said no Mary," Cora snapped. Mary recoiled; her Mama hadn't spoken to her in that tone since the night she had suggested marrying Matthew as a solution to the Great Matter. "_For once in your life will you please just listen?_" Cora's hiss echoed through her mind and she bowed her head towards her Mama, conceding to her will.

"Have a little faith in my ability to talk to my husband after 32 years of marriage. I do know a thing or too." Cora turned to Matthew and Tom who each mimicked Mary and nodded. Satisfied that the message had sunk in, Cora turned on her heels and walked out of the room with her head held high.

* * *

A tentative knock on Robert's dressing room door made both Robert and Bates look up. "Come in," Robert called as he held out his arm so Bates could continue working on his cuffs. The door opened revealing Cora in all her dinner finery. She stepped into the room and moved over to where he stood.

"You look lovely in that dress," Robert commented as he took in the sight that was his beautiful wife.

"Thank you Robert," she murmured. "Bates would you please leave us?" she said a little louder.

"But Cora I am not yet finished dressing," Robert started as irritation seeped through him. Cora ignored him and shot Bates a stern, no nonsense look.

"At once Your Ladyship," Bates said and hastily retreated.

Before the door had even shut, Cora's hands had found his cufflinks and she began to fiddle. Robert watched openmouthed as she set the link in place and picked up the other one. Robert offered her his other arm, waiting for her to speak and yet she stayed silent.

"I thought you had come in here to speak to me about something," Robert prompted. Cora finished his other cufflink and turned away from him to pick up his dinner suit.

"Well turn around Robert," she said, almost amused as she stepped forward with his suit. Robert did has she bid him and put his arms out behind him as she carefully slipped them into the armholes. She then stepped forward a little and brought it up until it sat on him just right. Cora had never done any of this for her him before and he was touched but also bemused by her actions.

"Are you trying to put poor Bates out of a job?" he joked.

"No, no," she replied airily and fetched the brush. After a few carefully placed strokes of the bristles across his shoulders her hand stilled, she lowered the brush and shuffled up beside him in the mirror, admiring her work.

"I never knew my wife had the skills of a valet," Robert teased.

"I don't know why it should surprise you after all the practice I have had dressing you up until this point," she smirked. "Don't we look good together Robert?" Cora asked suddenly. Robert managed to stop himself from choking on air. Something was definitely going on in that head of hers because she was not prone to blowing her own trumpet often.

"Yes we do," he agreed. "A perfect match if I do say so myself." Robert thought it best to play along at this point and see what she had in store for him and he didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Mmmm. You are such an integral part of who I am Robert and I would never want to be apart from you," she said suggestively. "To exclude you would be to deny me a part of myself, the most important part." Robert felt his emotions soaring to the moon at her words and placed his hands on her hips behind her. He took great care to place a kiss just below her left ear while avoiding messing up her neatly arranged hair. As his lips left her skin he drank in her tantalizing lavender scent.

"God Cora I love you. You are such a little minx to put me in this state right before dinner." Cora snickered.

"I know," she said sweetly as she looked at him in the mirror. "Is it too much for you my darling?" Robert mumbled something inaudible against her neck as he began an assault on her sensitive points. His arm had surreptitiously found its way around her waist and his ministrations were starting to affect her. Cora knew she must tell him what was on her mind before she lost control and slipped into a wayward pre-dinner love haze.

"Robert look at us in the mirror for a moment." Robert ceased his investigation of her jaw line and lifted his head up, meeting her gaze. "What do you see?" Cora asked. Robert split a lopsided grin.

"I see my loving, beautiful wife in a stunning black dress with a beautiful green pattern across the chest toying with my desire," he informed her cheekily.

"Is that all?" she said, trying hard not to giggle or blush.

"And I see that she is right where she belongs, in my arms." Cora couldn't contain her scoff and she swatted his arms playfully.

"That's right Robert. Just as I belong in your arms so you belong in mine. And you belong at the middle of the table opposite me, surrounded by our family too. They all need their father and father-in-law as much as I need my husband." Robert kept his gaze firmly fixed on Cora. Her eyes bore into his even though they were looking at the mirror. He didn't move a muscle as a silent struggle of wills broke out between them.

"Please Robert, give the children the benefit of the doubt because they aren't children anymore. They are responsible adults that we have raised and groomed for the roles we have now and it really does mean everything to them that their father and father-in-law is there to guide them, to be there for them when they make mistakes and to encourage them into the future. Do we not all still have a child hidden in us that wants that?" Cora paused dramatically, waiting for him to challenge her logic but this time it was he who kept quiet so Cora continued. "You are still needed as much as you are wanted. There is so much they still have to learn and you can teach them, we can teach them together even." Robert swallowed as he straightened up behind her but he didn't remove his arms from around her.

"Cora…"


	2. Chapter 2

"Cora…you—you just do not understand." Robert paused as he took in his wife's expression—an expression quickly turning to anger as she watched his shoulders slump slightly.

"Robert Crawley. Have you been listening at all? Darling, I _do_understand. I think it is you who does not quite understand."

Robert sighed, tightening his grip around Cora's waist. "My dearest Cora, I think perhaps you believe too much in me. Believe that perhaps I am capable of more than I am."

To this, Cora frowned deeply; the lines of worry more perceptible across her face. "Please don't talk like that," she murmured quietly, reaching up to run her fingers across the edge of her husband's face. He looked so very tired and so very defeated that it made her heart ache. "I know you, Robert." She said, finally, after a pause. "I know you better than anyone else and I know that you will overcome all of this. Not because you need to, but because deep down, deep down in there—" she let her fingers fall down to his chest, indicating his heart, before continuing, "—I know you want to be a part of it all. And you will. _We _will."

"Cora—"

Cora shook her head, though, interrupting his words. "No—you are going to listen to me. You are going to listen because I am your wife and because we will not fail, Robert. As I said, without you there is no me."

Cora's eyes searched her husband's expression for a long moment, waiting for some sort of confirmation that her words had gotten through to him. He only gaze back at her, though, taking in the delicate features of her face and the feel of the soft fabric of her gown against his palms. Somehow, even when discussing matters of the upmost importance, Robert was always frightfully distracted by his wife's beauty.

Robert swallowed the lump forming in his throat and looked back to meet Cora's gaze with a slight frown. "Cora, I _am_ trying. I just don't think I'm much good for anyone in this state."

Cora couldn't help but roll her eyes playfully at her husband and his stubbornness. He was utterly block-headed at times, and she could see that it would be no easy task convincing him that his already decided upon notions were not correct. He was needed and she needed him to see that. Looking back at his gloomy expression, Cora grinned a rather wicked smile. Robert raised his eyes in question and Cora stepped back, out of his embrace, and looked behind him, at his newly purchased cricket ensemble that was hanging outside his wardrobe.

"Well if you will not listen to reason, perhaps you would indulge me in a little wager?" Cora grinned coyly once more and stepped a bit closer to him.

"What sort of wager?" Robert asked curiously.

Cora paused for dramatic effect. She already knew how this would play out. The house, much to Robert's chagrin, never won the cricket match. It was a near guarantee that this year would only be a repeat of last year's match and they would lose horribly. Robert, of course, would never admit that fact and so Cora planned to use it for her advantage.

"If you lose the cricket match, you must agree to listen to the children and their ideas."

Robert frowned at Cora's little bet. Of course the house was going to lose, he thought angrily. What sort of bet was that, if his loss was already well anticipated? Nevertheless, Robert could not help but admit that he was a bit intrigued (as he usually was by his wife's little plans).

"What happens if we win?" He inquired, nonchalantly.

Cora's coy expression fell slightly. She had not thought out her plan completely, but knew it would have to be a rather enticing prospect for him to go for it at all. Giving her husband a once-over glance, she pulled back her coy smile and inched closer to him. "If you win, I will—" she leaned in and whispered in his ear, words he could hear, but were lost to anyone outside their private space. A whispered promise that Cora knew would leave her husband like putty in her hands.

The feel of her soft voice against his skin and the words that came out of her mouth were too much for Robert. He leaned back and grinned widely. "We haven't done _that_ since we were in our twenties," he chuckled, looking at his wife.

Cora nodded slightly and raised her eyebrows. "So do we have a bet?"

"We most certainly do," Robert agreed. Leaning down to meet her waiting lips, they sealed their deal with a kiss.

* * *

A few afternoons later, Cora sat under the large white tent as she watched her husband play cricket. Cora had been sipping lemonade all afternoon and taking in the delightful sight of Robert trying to desperately manage the team into some sort of organized chaos. He was rather adorable when he tried to be so authoritative and he did look ever so dashing in his cricket whites.

Robert's eyes caught hers and she waved from the tent as he strolled back out onto the field for the second half of the match. The house had not done as badly as they had in previous years; Cora was most surprised to see. In fact, they were only a point away from overtaking the village team! Watching with the slightest of frowns, Cora suddenly wondered if her plan was about to backfire. She had been positive that the village would win—and that, then, Robert would have to listen to Matthew and Mary and Tom. But if the house won…well then it became a bet of an entirely different sort.

As if receiving her answer by some sort of great cosmic joke, just as Cora began thinking about what precisely she had promised Robert should he win, Tom came running out of no where to catch a ball. There were shouts of joy from the entire house team and Cora watched as her husband threw his hands up in the air and jumped around. No doubt he was also celebrating a very different victory.

Cora felt her face blush reflexively, and reached for her fan. She was now going to have to find an entirely different way to convince Robert to speak to the children. But, those thoughts were not the thoughts running through her mind as she watched her husband approaching her from the field, his grin betraying any sense of propriety he normally had. Suddenly Cora felt herself flush as she thought of what they would be doing later that evening, and as she thought of what her husband was likely thinking about at that very moment.

Robert finally reached her chair and kneeled down so that they were face to face. He was still smiling and she could see the perspiration collected at his hairline from his exertions on the field. He leaned in slightly to whisper, even though they were the only two still under that particular tent.

"Aren't you going to give me a celebratory kiss?" He asked innocently.

Cora feigned indifference and chastely kissed her husband briefly on the cheek. Well, that was what she intended to do. As she reached to place her lips against the rough of his cheek, Robert suddenly turned his face, capturing her lips with his own in a much more risqué kiss than she had planned. Releasing her after a moment, Robert stood with another wide smile and offered Cora his hand. Taking it, she stood to meet his stance and linked their arms together.

"You played very well," Cora finally murmured as they began the long walk back to the house.

Robert turned to face her and revealed his expression—one of boyish excitement and mirthful glee. "Well I had quite a prize on the line," he replied matter-of-factly.

Cora only blushed and clutched his arm a bit tighter.

"I do hope you are not having second thoughts about our bet," Robert teased.

Cora turned to face him and shook her head quickly. "No, no—" she paused before looking back up with a devilish grin. "A deal is a deal, after all. And this was a deal most certainly worth making."


End file.
